Wednesday, August 29

X-Formation: The Beginning!

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My trial title, X-Formation,
is a bit of a puzzle. We know “X” from school as the unknown
factor,. What we are talking about forming, we really don't know. In
fact, St. Paul said, “We do not know what we shall be, but we know
that, when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as
he is.” While most of us read that verse as if it is about seeing
Christ up close in the next life, isn't the Christian life here and
now about seeing him more clearly, day by day? I used to work in
electronics, and some of the common words we saw on diagrams were
xfmr and xstr, for transformer and transistor. “Trans,” meaning,
“across,” was printed as “x.” Again, the Bible calls for
each of us to, “be transformed, by the renewing of our minds.” It
is that transformation that allows us to know God's will (in that
same verse), and, knowing it, to be able to pray, and receive,
according to his will. So, this book could have been named, How
to Know the Will of God, How to Get Your Prayers Answered,
or even, You, Too, Can Predict the Future!
I prefer X-Formation. Finally,
the X stands for the Greek letter, “Chi,”
which sounds closer to “key” in our language. We see it as
shorthand for “Christ” in “X-mas,” and the Person of Christ
is “key” in this, key formation of Christ in us. St. Paul, again,
wrote, “Little children, for whom I labor and travail until Christ
be formed in you..” And isn't “Christ in you, the hope of Glory,”
and, as St. Peter wrote of, “being made partakers of the divine
nature...” God's goal for each of our lives?